After 8 episodes of Season 4 Game of Thrones, 4x soppy movies, 1x trashy celebrity mag, 1x fashion mag-Harper’s Bazaar, and a few chapters of the book; ‘The Real Life MBA’, I’m finally here! WHHOOO HHHOOO!

A little tired, I’m here in Dusseldorf, Germany. I’m very glad to be off the plane, and I’m so excited to have arrived… FINALLY!! [If you could see me right now, I have the biggest smile]

After an hour long trip, I’ve arrived at the hotel,’ L’Arrivee’, Dortmund. I’m certainly glad to be out of the car, after my first experience on the auto barn! Scared out of my wits, it certainly was an experience for this Sydneysider! Travelling at speeds of 170kms, with the young man, at times driving one handed, and texting, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes at least twice!

With my feet firmly on the ground, over the next few days, I’ll be visiting one of the world’s oldest and specialised padlock factories ABUS. I’m here with Peter and Paul from Locksmith Supply Company (LSC are one of Mister Minit’s valued supply partners) who are also on a similar scholarship.

Over the next few days we will see the manufacturing of a range of quality ABUS products, along with a retail study tour, of similar shop styles to Mister Minit here in Australia and New Zealand. I’m looking forward to seeing what other likeminded businesses are doing here in Europe, as well as just looking, and seeing how the other side of the world goes about doing business.

Until then Auf Wiedersehen.

In November 2016 another severe earthquake rocked New Zealand, with tremors being felt as far as Auckland. Among the cities to fare the worst was Wellington, which incurred significant damage including the destruction of part of the Queensgate Shopping Centre. The large shopping complex in central Lower Hutt continues to remain partially closed with many areas taped off, and retailers losing their livelihood so close to Christmas. Fortunately the Mister Minit property team thrive on a challenge, and live and die by our tagline of “Real People Fixing Problems”. So when the Mister Minit store was affected by the damage, what do Real People do to fix a VERY big Problem? Give it a crack of course… with gusto!!

Despite the challenges inherent with a busy Christmas retail season, the Mister Minit team began by solving the first part of the puzzle of where else in the centre to locate – a challenge Mister Minit’s Property Manager, Shane McMillan overcame by securing a kiosk site on Level 2 of the Centre.

But then the real fun began!

What can we do to get something up and running ASAP was the question posed to the team, with many ideas floated before agreeing to build a new kiosk from scratch with the bits stashed locally in NZ and the friendly Bunnings team at Nae Nae.

The result?

The Mister Minit Queensgate store is now in full swing, led by Mister Minit’s very own leading man Hamish, Construction Manager.

“We salvaged some essential items for the kiosk – such as a “shoe care unit” and a “merchandise display” which were at the time sharing a shed with lambs, chickens and cows at my Dad’s house,” said Hamish.

“We then headed to Bunnings and purchased some flat pack kitchen cupboards, bench tops and cladding, but now needed somewhere to build this thing. We attempted to hire a storage shed for the day but to no avail. A passing comment came at Bunnings about borrowing some floor space which was greeted with great vigour and a positive response. The lady we asked said ‘it shouldn’t be an issue, I’ll just go and interrupt Paul’s meeting the Store Manager is having, and find out’. The answer was ‘yes and whatever you guys need just let us know and here’s Phil, he’s your personal storeman’. WOW!!”

A few hours later, the truck was packed and after the Christmas trading hours had ended at 10pm the Mister Minit team began setting up the new kiosk at the Queensgate Shopping Centre.

“After juggling three different time zones, a road trip up north, fending off old McDonalds Farm, arctic weather conditions (it is Wellington), liquid bartering, seven hours of installation and countless man hours, we officially have a fully functioning Mister Minit store to serve all of our wonderful customers!”

All in all the Mister Minit property team are truly living the Mister Minit philosophy or Real People Fixing Problems. As Mister Minit is an everyday needs business we hope that by reopening quickly, we can support all our customers this Christmas and continue to support the community.

P.S. A big shout out to Bunnings, Nae Nae, Phil, Paul and the rest of the team who literally saved the day! You’re a big factor in why we opened this side of Christmas, and we’re eternally grateful!

In a recent online survey 32% of respondents don’t have a spare car key, and the number 1 reason for not having a spare car key (scarily enough) is ‘Because I don’t need one’ (47%). With Christmas officially over for another year, and many of us enjoying some R n R with our loved ones (belly full of course), how many of you could afford to part with up to $2000 at this time of year, to have new keys written to the body control unit of your car, boat or motorbike?

I know that I don’t! And if I did, I would prefer to spend that amount of money on making something delicious for my family, or buying myself that dachshund that I’ve been wanting for years!

If your current key for your motorbike, boat or car is cracked, broken or worn out, relying on one/original key is definitely a recipe for disaster.

Car keys aren’t what they used to be. These days, car keys are high tech, high security electronic immobilisation devices that prevent the bad guys stealing your car. They are made up of multiple technologies integrated into the one key. The integration of multiple technologies and utilising key aspects of the vehicle systems has made the humble car key more secure than ever. The process of duplicating modern car keys has also evolved, to ensure quality, and maintaining the high level of security, a process including precision key cutting, transponder programming as well as programming of the keyless entry system. The evolution of the car key has come a long way in the last decade. The advancement in automotive security technology has sustained a steady decrease in light vehicle theft in Australia each year.

Whilst car key technology is continually improving, the downside to this is if you were to lose your only working key, the cost to get a spare set written to your car is extremely high, and can be totally avoided! 1 working car key + 0 spares = time, money and grief!

2018 New Year’s Resolution, new car key is going to the top of the list!